If you think that the FAA has some challenging issues to address regarding drones and privacy, that is nothing compared to the impact of adding HIPAA to the equation. HIPAA is the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 which provides a mandate to protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information. Ever wonder why the password to your healthcare website is seventeen characters long with five capitalized letters and three special characters? That’s HIPAA.
Let’s suppose that the CVS Drone or Walgreens Drone is delivering the prescription to your front door and something goes wrong. Pretty soon, everyone on the street knows that little Billy has received a prescription for his recent outbreak of lice. While this might be perfect for an episode of Modern Family, not so for those responsible for the administration of HIPAA. Therein lies the challenge for drone use in healthcare in the United States.
Does this mean drones can’t and/or won’t be used in healthcare in the near future? Absolutely not. But the focus will likely be on addressing disasters and positional disaster areas.
“The rapid delivery of vaccines, medications and supplies right to the source could quash outbreaks of life-threatening communicable diseases” writes Dr. Jeremy Tucker, chair of the emergency department at MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital in Leonardtown, MD in a recently published article on the role of drones in healthcare.
Matternet, a company in the drone delivery space, tested prototypes in Haiti and Dominican Republic late last year. “We went out with three vehicles, testing [remotely] piloted and autonomous missions in urban and rural locations in both countries,” Raptopoulos told SciDev.Net. The trials included discussions with local aviation authorities and government officials, he added. “The trials were successful. We logged several missions and found strong applications for the technology.” The potential applications are courier transport in the Dominican Republic and delivery of diagnostic samples in Haiti. But Raptopoulos said there is much more development needed. “We have to improve [the system’s] autonomous navigation and battery exchange, and ensure it is safe. It will take us 12 to 18 months to address these adequately before we can consider commercial or humanitarian deployments,” he said.
With much work to be done, there is substantial promise for the use of drones in disaster areas.
CEO DroneLife.com, DroneRacingLife.com, and CMO of Jobfordrones.com. Principle at Spalding Barker Strategies. Has enjoyed working with and around the commercial drone industry for the last 10 years. Attendance and speaker at Industry Events such as Commercial UAV, InterGeo, Interdrone and others. Proud father of two. Enjoys karate, Sherlock Holmes, and interesting things. Subscribe to all things drone at DroneLife here. Email is Harry@dronelife.com. Make Sure that you WhiteList us in your email to make sure you get our Newsletter. Editor1@dronelife.com.
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